The Monument
The village of Saorge, remarkable for its semicircular form, overlooks the gorges of the Roya. In the past, it was an important fortified town and was in control of the road from Nice to the Piedmont, by the Tende pass. Franciscan monks settled there in 1633, at the time of the Catholic Reform and the blossoming of the Italian baroque, which is wonderfully expressed in the monastic constructions. The building of Notre-Dame-des-Miracles monastery was finished in 1660, and the building of the church in 1681. At the beginning of the 1760’s, the monastery was transformed and its decorations were completed.
The buildings, which façades are very austere, are organized round a rectangular cloister surrounded by four vaulted galleries. The lunettes under the groined vaults are ornated with a 18th-century fresco which relates Saint Francis of Assisi’s life. The church occupies the whole north side. It is a pure baroque church, with a rectangular plan without transept , a barrel vault, and a nave lined with regular rows, in which the four lateral chapels alternate with galleries. In the choir, a magnificent high altar contains a Virgin called Notre-Dame-des-Miracles.
Lodging
See the listing of the Hotels in Menton
See the listing of the Hotels in Nice
Practical information
Main entrance to the Monastère of Saorge
Monastère de Saorge
06540 Saorge
Going there
From Nice: main road N 2204 towards Tende
On the Turin/Nice road
By the main road N 204
43 km north of Menton
Opening / Closing
Open every day except of Tuesday
from April 1 to October 31: 10 to 12 am and 2 to 6 pm
from November 2 to March 31: 10 to 12 am and 2 to 5 pm
Closed
on January 1, May 1, November 1, November 11 and December 25